Why we can't have nice things---"Disaster Assistance to New England fisherman edition"

Why we can't have nice things---"Disaster Assistance Edition".

Below are two articles on the same topic---Federal disaster assistance for fisherman in New England.  

What is/was the "disaster"?   Federal regulations restricting the catch of certain types of fish due to, well, over fishing.  Yup, that's it. 

What gets me is the disaster aid morphs into something more, or maybe the right word is less---notice in SOME of the compensation goes to the fisherman, but most (a majority) goes to other entities for other things that don't directly aid the fisherman in need.

Cash starts to drift into less disaster affected related areas. 

NH fishing industry receives $2M in federal funds: Half of the aid will go to groundfishermen

Kendall said according to the formula, those who qualify may receive about $32,800 each from the disaster relief fund. At this point, it’s still unclear how many will qualify, although Kendall expects everyone may. 

At the meeting on Tuesday, the industry will learn how the remainder of the money will be spent. The agreement outlines how the disaster relief funds will be distributed to support New Hampshire’s fishing industry. The money will come down from the federal agency and go to New Hampshire Fish and Game for distribution, Kendall said. 

“Some of the remaining million dollars could go to help with (commercial fishing) infrastructure, like the Cooperative,” Kendall said. “And some may go to recreational charter fishing boat captains, who are also affected. We should find that out on Tuesday.”

RI fishermen to receive nearly $2 million in disaster aid

Under the plan, one-third will provide direct assistance to fishermen, one-third will go toward states to support their commercial fishing industry and the final third will be held by the National Marine Fisheries Service for a possible program to pay fishermen to leave the industry.

“This is an important step to get money directly to fishermen and provide Rhode Island and other states with additional resources to respond to the unique needs of their fishing communities,” U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI, said in a statement.

This last paragraph REALLY bugs me.  Everything after "This is an important step to get money directly to the fisherman..." needs to go away.  This is Cronyism , pork, whatever you want to call it.

Federal Disaster Aid to fix the broken window is fine with me.  But not if all the window needs is a cleaning.